Combination furnace



June 2, 1936. H. PONTZEN 2,042,626

COMBINATION FURNACE Filed Sept. 27, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVF/Y ra/e Herbal-Z 1 0022? June 2, 1936. H. PONTZEN COMBINATION FURNACE Filed Sept. 27, 19554 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 2, 1936 HUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBINATION FURNACE Application September 27, 1934, Serial No. 745,750 In Germany September 30, 1933 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to a combination furnace especially adapted for conducting metallurgical operations and particularly for refining metals.

It is well known that the art of metallurgy has been confronted for a long time with the problem of devising a simple and efficient furnace for conducting metallurgical operations. Many proposals have been made, but as far as I am aware not with complete success. Some progress has been made due to the introduction of the rotary tubular furnace, in which the time needed for the blowing or other treatments has been considerably reduced. Unfortunately, the capacity of the rotary tubular furnace has been rather limited, as it is only possible to charge the furnace from one end. With a rotary tubular furnace charging by crane has been rather difiicult. Moreover, the rotary tubular furnace has not been very well adapted to the practice of using very large individual charges. There existed therefore a definite need of an improved furnace for refining and similar metallurgical operations, which furnace would be capable of a considerable output and at the same time would also make use of the advantages of the rotary tube principle.

I have discovered thata surprisingly simple combination constituted of a plurality of rotatable furnaces mounted on a rotatable platform can be used to solve the foregoing problem.

It is an object of the presentinvention to provide a combination furnace for conducting metallurgical operationswhich is simple, efiicient and capable of a substantial output.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a combination furnace which incorporates the advantages of the rotary tube principle while at the same time permitting the use of auxiliary equipment as charging cranes, casting machines and the like.

It is also within the contemplation of the invention to provide a combination furnace which is adaptable to varying conditions of operation and may undergo repairs in some of its parts without interrupting continuity of the operation in the others.

' Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a top view of a. combination furnace embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view, somewhat fragmentary for purposes of clarity, of the combination furnace illustrated in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 depicts an elevational view of the end of one of the furnaces in the new furnace combination.

' Generally speaking, it is preferred to mount a, plurality of short drum furnaces at an inclination and on a rotatable table or platform which is provided with a common charging device, discharging device and waste gas flue. It has been 10 found that a rotary furnace of the so-called ellipsoid type gives satisfactory results. An ellipsoid rotary furnace is a short drum furnace arranged in an inclined position and heated by means of a burner with a return flame which 15 has a. shape resembling an ellipsoid or part thereof. A furnace of this type has an excellent heat efficiency because the wall can be rotated 360 degrees without interfering with the accessibility of the inside of the furnace required for manipu- 20 lating the melt. According to the present invention the rotation of the entire furnace on a rotatable platform permits the former to be brought to. the place where the particular auxiliary equipment is situated, and therefore eliminates the difi'iculty, formerly experienced with ellipsoid rotary furnaces of arranging all necessary equipment such as charging cranes, casting machines and the like at the one accessible side of the furnace. 30

Referring to. the drawings, four rotary furnaces,'preferably of the so-called ellipsoid type, are arranged in a circle and are mounted on the rotatable platform 5. For the sake of simplicity, only three of the four furnaces are shown in 35 Fig. l, and are denoted by reference characters I, 2 and 3.

A burner 6 mountedon the upper part of the furnace constitutes the heating equipment through which gas, oil or coal dust can be introduced into the furnace for heating same. Below the burner, a gas outlet 1 is provided which conducts the hot waste gases underground to recuperators, regenerators, steam boilers or other 45 means for utilizing these hot gases.

In each furnace, a. tap hole II is provided in the shell, through which the treated material or refined material can be .cast. The furnace is rotatably supported by means of ring l5, resting 50 on rollers I2 in a conventional manner. Preferably, the rear axle iii of the furnace is supported by means of a neck journal bearing l1. Roller I2 is mounted on a hydraulically actuated lifting jack 13 whereby it is possible to tilt the 55 ing machine including rotatable casting table 26.

a loading ramp for'the charge material and a carrying ramp 2!, on which a trolley conveyor 22 is arranged with a charging container 23. The trolley conveyor brings the charging 'material'2'4 up to the charging box orhopper from which the material may slide into the furnace. Acastand moulds 21 is also provided. In View of the" V fact that all of these arrangements are well known to those skilled in the art further description of same will be unnecessary.

The ellipsoid character of the furnace will be clearly observed by referring to Fig. 2, in which the furnaces are shown in section. As appears from the furnace on the left side of the platform and'indicated by the arrows, the path of the gases follows an elliptical curve starting from the burner 6 over the surface of the bath to the outlet 1.

The furnace cover is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3. The cover 43 is provided with the necessary means for manipulating and operating the furnace. Thus, a burner port 8 is provided for co-operation with a burner 6 which is supplied with oil from tank 4|, through conduit 42, the burner being provided with a swinging elbow l4 whereby it may be turned outside for inspection and the like. A gas outlet port 9 is located in the cover for carrying off the heating and waste gases. A manually operated working door [0 is mounted in the closed end for taking off slag, blowing, poling or the like. The furnace cover 43 is connected to the gas outlet 1 which extends down to the floor.

For the purpose of giving those skilled in the art a better understanding of the operation of the combination furnace, the following illustrative example is given:

By rotation of platform 5 in any appropriate manner, furnace I is brought in the proper position with respect to the burner, the charging and other auxiliary means, and is connected to them. The furnace is heated up, is charged, and the metal or material is melted down and treated. Thereafter, the auxiliary means are disconnected from the furnace, and the platform is further rotated to make another furnace accessible to the auxiliary means. The same operation may be carried out for all the other furnaces by prope adjustment of the platform.

In case the combination furnace is used for refining copper, from two up to four furnaces may be kept in simultaneous operation depending upon the quality of copper and upon the time necessary for refining. In case the melting period is long and the refining period is short, two furnaces may be alternately operated, whereas if the refining period is alsolong, one or two more furnaces may be added to those already in operation, in order to adjust the individual treatments in relation to each other. As soon as the copper has been refined in one of the furnaces, this particular furnace is moved to the casting machine by an appropriate rotation of the platform and the copper is cast. The same can successively be done with the other furnaces in any desired order. In this manner, the principle of the present invention makes it possible to selectively connect any one of a plurality of furnaces mounted on a rotatable platform to any of a number of auxiliary means necessary for operating the furnaces, simply by proper adjustment of the platform by rotation. Thereby the number of necessary auxiliary means is considerably reduced.

The combination furnace embodying the principle of the present invention has the additional advantage of being much more adaptable to all possible conditions of operation than a single, large, fixed furnace ever could be. Those skilled in'the artwill readily understand that when one of the furnaces has to undergo some repairs, there are still three furnaces left for continuing the operations. Accordingly the necessary reserve equipment can be very small. Of course, it is also possible to operate a single furnace of the group, if desired, so that there is no danger ofa complete shut-down or suspension of production at any time.

I claim:

1. A combination furnace for treating metals and ores which comprises a rotatable platform; a plurality of ellipsoid rotary furnaces mounted on said platform; and charging, heating, casting and auxiliary means for keeping the furnaces in operation arranged around said platform and capable of selective connection to the furnaces when the relative position of the furnaces and ofv said means is properly adjusted by a rotation of said platform.

2. A combination furnace for treating metals and ores which comprises a rotatable platform; a plurality of ellipsoid rotary furnaces operated with a return flame burner mounted on said platform; a cover for each furnace, a plurality of openings in said cover for charging, heating, casting and auxiliary means for operating the furnaces, said means being arranged around said platform and capable of being selectively connected to the furnaces when the relative position of the furnaces and of the aforesaid means is properly adjusted by a rotation of said platform; and lifting means for each furnace for adjusting the height thereof.

3. The method of operating a combination furnace for conducting metallurgical procedures which comprises establishing a plurality of furnaces on a platform in a circle, bringing one of said furnaces in alignment with a charging station to charge said furnace with raw material, subjecting said charged furnace to heat, treating the heated charge to convert the same into a treated condition, rotating said platform to move the said charged furnace to a discharging station while moving a second furnace to said charging station, discharging said charged furnace, charging said second furnace, and repeating the aforesaid operations.

HERBERT PONTZEN. 

